Browsing Tag

Melodic Hip Hop

Stockdale exhibits their in-Vogue urban pop style with ‘Countdown’.

Posted on 1 April 2021

Berlin-based artist Stockdale has captured the air of 80s East Coast hip hop while adding a melodic soul-pop twist with the standout track, ‘Countdown’, from their 2021 album, ‘BUDDY’.

Their versatile discography cruises between smooth pop and hip hop anthems; with Countdown, you get the best of both worlds. By starting as a fiery feat of lo-fi jazzy indie hip hop, you’ll get pulled into the progressive mix that exhibits four vocalists and a potent dose of collaborative chemistry. With D’Fish, Nomé, Pilgrim and Luce bringing their authentic personality to the track, you’re almost welcomed into the collective creative experience. The harmonic layering in the dream-pop style production towards the outro seriously puts every 90s boyband to shame.

Countdown is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Succumb to the serenity in TRL Beats & Instrumentals’ smooth hip hop single ‘Goodbye’

Posted on 6 March 2021

UK-based artist and producer, TRL Beats & Instrumentals, is here to say ‘Goodbye’ with their hypnotically smooth hip hop single pulled from their latest album ‘Life in Colour: The Beattape Vol.2’.

The gentle mellifluous layers, constructed with warm and radiantly light tones, ease you into the soundscape which features ethereal female vocals and boasts a dreamy intimate feel. The vocals drift into the mix in sporadic increments around the steady beats that you’ll want to repeatedly revisit.

You can allow your synapses to succumb to the sweetness in Goodbye by heading over to SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Adrian Jose has delivered his prodigiously cathartic alt-hip hop EP, ‘Astronomical’.

Posted on 17 February 2021

‘Astronomical’ is the debut EP from up and coming Chicago-residing alt artist, Adrian Jose which takes contemporary hip hop to evocative new heights. Any fans of Big Sean, Kendrick Lamar and Lil Baby are going to want to pay attention to the psychedelically spacey release which is waiting to wrap you in colourful catharsis.

The 5-track release is less of an expression of emotion, and more of an invitation to find meaning and relatable resonance within the release. The first track, ‘Astronomical Freestyle’, is the perfect introduction to Adrian Jose’s celestially stinging production style. With digitally layered classical strings cutting across mellow trappy beats and under the smooth wavy rap bars, Astronomical Freestyle sets the perfect tone for the release which picks up momentum with the following tracks.

The distinction within the instrumentals is one thing; the candid ingenuity within the meta lyrics is quite another. With tracks such as ‘Rocket Ship’, you could run through them a hundred times and still be able to pick out new wordplay clever enough to shift your perceptions.

Astronomical officially released on January 22nd, 2021; it is now available to stream via Spotify.

Follow Adrian Jose via Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Hook-Filled Bars Grind Against Reverb-Softened Beats in Sammi Sosa’s latest single ‘Reckless’

Posted on 3 February 2021
Sammi Sosa

Floridian Hip Hop artist, Sammi Sosa, started to find his feet in the underground in 2020, in 2021. His unique melodic approach to rap is set to take him to new heights. His latest single ‘Reckless’ featuring Forever will have plenty to do with his ascention.

With an ambient electronica prelude, you’ll instantly be drawn into the atmospherically-layered mix which drips with serenity; there’s an arrestive contrast between the sedative reverb-softened beats and Sammi Sosa’s grinding hook-filled bars. Plenty of new artists fall in the trap of assimilating popular Rap artists. Not Sammi Sosa. His fearlessness when it came to using his natural charisma allowed his authentic talent to shine through in Reckless. We’re already stoked to hear what urban earworms are in the pipeline.

Reckless was officially released on January 13th, you can check it out for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.

Stay up to date with new releases from Sammi Sosa via Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sink into USUALLY MODEST’s poetically melodic Indie Hip Hop single ‘DESPERATE’

Posted on 19 December 2020

USUALLY MODEST has dropped their pioneeringly candid album ‘DREAMS OF LOS ANGELES’ which tightens the bond between Indie, Pop, Trap, RnB and Hip Hop and exhibits the artist’s ability to spin a compelling poetic narrative.

The perfect introduction to the 19-year-old artist’s style is DESPERATE. Most people would do anything not to appear desperate, but assuredly, USUALLY MODEST lays down those raw emotions without any hint of shame. Naturally, we found an overwhelming amount of respect for the artist relaying the emotions which most people only hear when they run through their heads in the early hours.

The soundscape is as stunning as the sentiment itself, the melodies and stunning cinematic infusions set the perfect tone for the poetic lyrics which will consume you from the first verse.

You can check out DESPERATE along with the rest of USUALLY MODEST’s album via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

CRACK63X has released their subversively sweet Hip Hop track ‘PASSIONLESS’

Posted on 6 December 2020

If your Hip Hop playlists are crying out for fresh sticky-sweet Hip Hop which comes with a playfully sardonic kick, look no further than artist and producer CRACK63X’s latest release ‘PASSIONLESS’.

With the polyphonically enamouring melodies alongside dreamy ukulele strings and CRACK63X’s inventively witty rap bars which subvert the usual Hip Hop narratives, you can’t help falling into the high-vibe Indie Hip Hop mix which stands as a testament to the artist’s authenticity and ability to create an accessible yet distinctively distinguished track.  There’s a fair amount of grit in the lyrics, but the beats cushion the sniping candid lyrical blows which will definitely make their mark on the airwaves.

You can check out PASSIONLESS for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Catfish has dropped their mindfully melodic feat of New Wave Hip Hop ‘No Magic’

Posted on 6 December 2020

Toronto-based artist and producer, Catfish, may only be 19-years-old, but they’re already exuding maturity and nuance within their uniquely beguilingly soulful signature Hip Hop sound. It is artists such as Catfish that leave me assured that the future of music is in safe hands.

While I appreciate aggression is a form of catharsis and protest in Hip Hop, the abrasive attitude can quickly scour away at the sentiment and message in the music, but there’s no danger of that with No Magic. It’s pure soul, a vibration you’re going to want to indulge in time and time again.

It comes as no surprise that Catfish is quickly rising up from the underground with their magnetically mindful lyrics, melodically relentless flows and accordantly transfixing beats. Get him on your radar.

You can check out No Magic via all major platforms through this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ki$ama’s Foreign Cars is a gritty, dirty message to a broken heart.

Posted on 28 November 2020

Who doesn’t love a good, gritty ode to dreaming and aspiration and a message to a lost heart? All of us, surely, if only so we can feel better about ourselves for a few minutes? With Ki$ama’s ‘Foreign Cars’, we get the story of deceit and devotion, a modern freestyling hip hop tale of betrayal and requital over a trappy, chiming beats background.

From Ki$ama’s ‘Passages For The Broken’ album, ‘Foreign Cars’ has a dark, dirty vocal, all damage and desire and a yearning to prove oneself after duplicity and abandonment. It’s doomy and menacing in places, a clear shout of self-betterment in the ‘So many times you broke my heart/ One day I’ll be in foreign cars’ lyric which forms the chorus hook. It’s kind of rancorous without crossing the line into hateful, and there’s a clear hopefulness in the appetite for amelioration and progress pasted throughout the lyrics.

You can follow Ki$ama on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Cigarra – Deathwish (Prod. Blingbwoy and Sammyboy)

Posted on 25 November 2020

Starting with a lovely chilled sampled voiceover before the gorgeous trappy beats kick in, Cigarra’s ‘Deathwish’ is one-and-a-half minutes of perfect old-school hip hop, all laid back vocal over spangly, sparkly sequenced melody and sublime gated snare beats.

CIgarra hails from Tampa, Florida, and ‘Deathwish’ has that beautiful, relaxed West Coast vibe, all summery flow and carefree, breezy composition. Free and easy without ever feeling over-nonchalent, ‘Deathwish’ is a scintillating, vivacious bite of accomplished art which truly showcases Cigarra’s musical craft.

Hear ‘Deathwish’ on Soundcloud, and follow Cigarra on Instagram and YouTube.

Review by Alex Holmes

Kei Dii lays their amorous soul bare in the genre-transcending single ‘New Girl in Town’

Posted on 19 November 2020

Breaking artist Kei Dii transcended the notion of genre with their EP ‘Bar-Bies’ which dropped on October 15th, the perfect introduction to their unique brand of urban aural alchemy is undoubtedly ‘New Girl in Town’.

The amorously evocative single laces the romanticism of RnB with the convictive adoration which you will frequently find in Hip Hop, but you’ve never heard a track quite like this before.

It’s practically paradoxical for a track to offer such idyllic resolving melodies while simultaneously delivering hard-hitting energy. Yet, as New Girl in Town runs through, you’ll find that the momentum stems from Kei Dii’s galvanising vibe and passion which they project into the mix without filter, assimilation or constraint.

You can check out Kei Dii’s single New Girl in Town via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast